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1) Watered down talent pool from half the league drawing from the 3-4 well. 2) DL's schemes can't stop most of the modern day offenses. 3) Ten yard cushions in a zone = all day progression down the field with the spread or dink and dunk O's. 4) Ben is the MVP of the opposing teams. 5) ToP of our opponents has been the main nemesis. We're showing our age by the 3rd quarter.

1) Watered down takent pool from half the league drawing frim the 3-4 well. 2) DL's schemes can't stop most of the modern day offenses. 3) Ten yard cushions in a zone = all day progression down the field with the spread ir dink and dunk O's. 4) Ben is the MVP of the opposing teams. 5) ToP of our opponents has been the main nemesis. We're showing our age be the 3rd quarter.

I agree with 1-5! This D has shown it's age starting in 2009. They had trouble getting stops late in games. I have questioned their conditioning and stamina over the past few years.

And losing Foote and Farrior (and Hampton and Smith) from one of the greatest run D's of all time is hard to make up for!

We played teams that were one dimensional since the run was shut down (and Troy could play the pass). Now we have Troy on the LOS every play since the running D is not as good as it used to be. It's hard to defend the pass when your best player now has to play DL.

1) Watered down takent pool from half the league drawing frim the 3-4 well. 2) DL's schemes can't stop most of the modern day offenses. 3) Ten yard cushions in a zone = all day progression down the field with the spread ir dink and dunk O's. 4) Ben is the MVP of the opposing teams. 5) ToP of our opponents has been the main nemesis. We're showing our age be the 3rd quarter.

Who exactly is old and slowing down in the 3rd quarter? Foote's been replaced by a younger guy. Woodley and Timmons aren't old. Hood and McClendon are young. Keisel is the best DL even at his age. Ike is older but I don't remember him slowing down late in games. Jones is a rookie and Worilds is young. Who exactly is old and slowing down the defense?

If it isn't, it is tied for the biggest. The D was part of the problem, in every game. Because they didn't give the ball back to the defense! This is a glaring, long-standing issue (since 2011). Back then, it was attributed to aging. Two years later, it is worse than it has ever been.

The issue is a lack of speed, getting to the ball. It manifests in never "surprising" ballcarriers at impact, which is the cause of most turnovers (hitting them when they aren't expecting it). It also manifests in the lack of gang-tackling (which usually means that if you miss a tackle, it is going to be a big gain). Not to mention that since we aren't getting there when we're supposed to, often our tackler(no "s" here, because we usually only have one tackler arriving) doesn't have his feet fully under him in good tackling position. Often, he is slightly unbalanced (e.g. lunging), which leads to missed tackles too.

Who exactly is old and slowing down in the 3rd quarter? Foote's been replaced by a younger guy. Woodley and Timmons aren't old. Hood and McClendon are young. Keisel is the best DL even at his age. Ike is older but I don't remember him slowing down late in games. Jones is a rookie and Worilds is young. Who exactly is old and slowing down the defense?

At the start of the season Foote 32, Troy 32, Ike 33, Clark 33, Keisel 34... That might not be old to you or even by NFL standards, but unlike QB or kicker, these defensive positions take a young man's skill set and physicality to react defensively to plays being rendered as opposed to executing a given play offensively.

Take into account three factors: 1) Our opponents have scored collectively 61 points in the first half of games and 43 points respectively in the second half of games. 2) Turnovers - 11 for our opponents and ZERO for the good guys in B&G. 3) the following Time of Possession numbers...

36:27 Pittsburgh
23:33 Tennessee

28:24 Pittsburgh
31:36 Cinncinatti

24:26 Pittsburgh
35:34 Chicago

25:59 Pittsburgh
34:01 Minnesota

What does this all mean? We turn over the ball way too often, when our opponents are scoring a bulk of their points early in the game, then getting dominated in ToP, thus forcing our defense to be on the field longer than our offense. You can't convince me that our D is young enough to combat those factors... maybe one or two... but not all. The turnovers are the killer.... 11 to ZERO.

At the start of the season Foote 32, Troy 32, Ike 33, Clark 33, Keisel 34...

Foote 32 - Injured to start the year and been replaced by Williams 23, and Wilson 26, and the play from that position has declined significantly

Troy 32 - Playing than he has for many years. Looks healthy and energized. If you are pointing fingers on this D, Troy is not anywhere near the top of that list.

Ike 33 - Easily the best defender on the D so far this season. Given up only one big play (albeit that was a back breaker) but has been STELLAR so far. Far better than Allen 24.

Clark 33 - Okay, this guy looks like he is aging rapidly after a number of very strong years in this D

Keisel 34 - Playing well. Not great but good. The best DL on this team so far by a long shot. Again, if you are pointing fingers Keisel is near the back of the line.

Now for the not so aged...

Hood 26, Heyward 24, McLendon 27 - I group these three together because they have been awful side by side. A couple plays here and there but not an NFL starting performance by any one of these young guys yet this season.

Timmons 27 - No need to further discuss his play, there is already enough of that on this board...but I think we can all agree that his is not an age issue.

Woodley 28 - I don't think that he is playing as bad as some here do. If the D got any push at all up the middle then it would not be as easy for the RT to just ride him wide and let the QB step up into the grand canyon sized pocket. However, he has not been one of our top defenders and age should not be the problem.

Jones/Worlids 23/25 - Neither making any impact, neither because they are too old.

Allen 24 - Not looking very good so far, although who knows if lingering injury is a concern. However, easily being outplayed by the 33 year old Ike, despite the fact that Taylor gets all of the tougher assignments.